“I agree with Mr. President [Austrian President Heinz
Fischer] that seven days are obviously not enough,” Putin
said at a press-conference in Vienna.

"We have told Ukraine and also given this information to
President Poroshenko: to declare a cease-fire is not enough; it
is necessary to start substantive negotiations on the nature of
the problem,” he added.

President Putin has stressed that negotiations should not just
focus on stopping military actions. There should be dialogue
“about specific arrangements between all sides in the
conflict.”

At the same time, Kiev should not be demanding disarmament in
eastern Ukraine, given that “radical elements like the Right
Sector and other radical [groups] are not yet disarmed, despite
repeatedly talking about that and basically promising that
illegal groups will lay down arms.”

Nevertheless, the existing ceasefire and the start of
negotiations “is definitely a right decision,” the
Russian president concluded. He added that Russia is interested
in creating conditions “for a peaceful process” in
Ukraine.

“This is what my appeal to the Upper House is connected
with,” Putin said, responding to a journalist's question
about the presidential request to the Federation Council which is
aimed at repealing the resolution on the use of Russian armed
forces on the territory of Ukraine.

President Putin also stressed that his appeal will not mean that
Russia “will not be paying attention to what is going on
there.”

Moscow will continue to protect the rights of the ethnic
Russian-speaking population in Ukraine – “hopefully” without the
involvement of military forces.

"We, of course, will not only be closely following, but also
reacting in an appropriate way [to events in Ukraine]. I hope
that armed forces will not be needed for that,” he said.

On June 20, Ukraine’s new president, Petro Poroshenko, announced
the seven-day ceasefire, which was agreed to by the self-defense
forces on Monday.

However, despite the temporary truce, fighting continues in the
Donetsk region, where self-defense forces have downed a Ukrainian
army Mi-8 helicopter used for transporting military cargo. At
least nine people were reportedly killed in the attack.